Flowernose and Moon

Flowernose walked out of the warrior's den after a long sleepless night. Her fur was still wet from the melting snow that collected on her fur when she went for a walk. She stretched her jaws wide open as she yawned loudly. "Why can't I get any sleep?" She questioned herself aloud. "Whenever I do sleep, I still wake-up tired." Flowernose yawned again and shook the water out of her under-groomed fur. She walked over to the fresh-kill pile and picked a small mouse.

Tired and hungry, the old queen Moon stepped through the brambles and away from the nursery. It wouldn't be long until the three kits she and Stormsong had taken in when they were young kits would be apprentices. She would miss the three littles ones, and would move into the elders den with her mate.

The camp was empty, all the others asleep after the gathering last night. Looking toward the fresh-kill pile, although it was very low in prey, Moon noticed another warrior picking out some prey. It was a scrawny mouse, not much worth eating, and Moon knew she would have anymore luck.

"Good morning, Flowernose. I hope everything is well." The old she-cat asked as she sniffed through the pile. The largest thing was a red bird. Birdkit, Meadowkit, and Razorkit would have trouble sharing this between the four.

"Uh, yeah. I'm good" Flowernose mumbled absent-mindedly. "Just having trouble sleeping. How are your kits?" She asked taking a small bite of her mouse.

Moon nodded, glad to here that the warrior was doing well. "Perhaps you should talk to Heatherflower about you not being able to sleep?" as Flowernose went on, Moon smiled. "They are very well indeed. Very soon they will be apprentices. Perhaps you will be able to mentor one." Moon mused on the thought, which then lead to others.

Very soon she and Stormsong would be telling them the truth. That they weren't their real parents, but that they had adopted the trio. Picking up the mouse she padded over to a shaded area, her mind clouded with thoughts of how that might change their relationship.

"Yeah, I guess I should." Flowernose agreed with a nod. "It would be nice to mentor, but I don't know if I could handle an apprentice yet." Flowernose thought aloud taking the last bite of her mouse.

As the two ate in silence, Moon was glad to be around another cat that wasn't a young, adventurous kit. Even though they hadn't talked much yet, Moon was pleased.

"But why do you feel that way? Was Suneyes your mentor? I would think it would be easy to mentor a cat. But maybe for clans it is harder? The few to-be's I had in the mountain where very well behaved."

"Well there is a lot to teach just from the warrior code." Flowernose explained, trying to remember everything Suneyes had taught her. "Of course, then there's hunting and battle training. "

Moon slowly nodded. "I see. Training to-be's seems to be so much simpler. All I had to do was teaching them how to gaurd the cave and fight off eagles. But then again, I still do not know much about clan life." finishing up her share of the mouse, she left the last bit for her kits. "But I would have thought all warriors were impatiant for an apprentice?"

"I never said I don't want to be a mentor, I just want to make sure I'm ready before I ruin some cat's chance of being a great warrior." Flowernose explained. "I know Suneyes taught me everything well, I just want to be completely sure I know everything."

Moon slowly nodded. "I should not have assumed you did not want an apprentice. I can understand you wish to know everthing...Although I am unsure on how you could ruin an apprentice's chance of becoming a great warrior by not knowing everything. No cat can know everything, it is training an apprentice that teaches both mentor and apprentice much with my experience with my to-be's.

"But enough about apprentices, you have plenty of time to get one. Do you have any other dreams you wish to achieve now that you are a warrior?"

"I hope to be a queen eventually, but until then I just want to do what's best for the clan." Flowernose said thinking about a few of her recent dreams. "So, what do you think is best to do for the clan now?" Flowernose asked, getting to her feet.

Moon chuckled. "When you become a mother, at some point you will wish you were a warrior again. But at the moment the clan needs fresh-kill. I will have to put up with some whining kits when I bring this to them." Moon meowed as she gestured toward the mouse. "I am sure you can find another warrior to go out with you. Perhaps Suneyes is free?"

At that moment the deputy came in from a patrol. "Did someone say my name?" she asked as she padded over to the two she-cats.

"Hey Suneyes!" Flowernose purred. "How was patrol?" She asked her old mentor.

Suneyes smiled at her old apprentice and then nodded to Moon, who was picking up the mouse to leave. "It was very good, Flowernose. The thaw is here, it's great to feel the earth, no matter how wet it may be under my paws. I could see a lot of prey out too. Which is very good. And, if I'm not mistaken, that is what you and Moon were talking about? How 'bout it, you up for the hunt?"

Suneyes chuckled "Now, let's not go back to being mentor and apprentice. I want to see what you can do at your best, so you better be alert. You know, now that I am deputy I can get you cleaning the elders den for moons." Suneyes laughed at her little 'threat'. It was one of the rare moments she had to relax a little and be a 'warrior' with a little extra power behind the name.

"We can head over to the ThunderClan boarder. We'd probably find more prey scampering across their boarder to get out in that sun shine over there."